Business News: Saudi Power Company to Build R11.6 Billion Solar Tower in South Africa
- Absa has signed an agreement with Cape Town Metro Rail to fund a multi-billion-rand project in the country
- The project consists of building a solar plant in South Africa, headed by ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia
- The solar plant will give South Africans jobs and aid in fighting unemployment in the country
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed!
Absa has signed a senior debt financing package worth R1.5 billion for the Cape Town Metro Rail project, the bank's CEO said on Wednesday.
Absa is the lead arranger and the senior lender for the multi-billion rand project. ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia is developing a R11.6 billion 100MW solar project in South Africa. The bank said that the project is part of the country’s renewable energy programme.
Source: Getty Images
A CSP tower plant uses mirrors to generate electricity from a large area of sunlight. The energy is then converted into thermal energy for power.
PAY ATTENTION: Never miss breaking news – join Briefly News' Telegram channel
The Redstone CSP Project will be constructed in the Northern Cape. According to Shaun Moodley of Absa, the project will generate enough electricity to power about 50 000 homes.
“An important feature of the Redstone CSP Project is that it will have 12 hours of full-load energy storage which will enable the CSP power plant to reliably deliver a stable electricity supply to more than 200 000 South African homes during peak demand periods," he said.
Around 2 000 direct jobs will be created in the construction phase, while over 560 jobs will be created once the power plant is operational.
In other business news, Briefly News reported that the taxi industry in the spotlight for paying only R5 million in tax on R90 billionn revenue. The South African taxi industry is one of the richest industries as far as the economy is concerned, but they are not paying their taxes.
This was discovered in Parliament and made public by DA Shadow Finance Minister Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Hill-Lewis posed a question to the country’s Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni, who reportedly made it clear that the South African Revenue Services only received R5 million in the last financial year.
According to The South African, the response was provided in Parliament and it comes as a shock when looking at the number of commuters ferried by taxis on a daily basis.
Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!
Source: Briefly News
